Hopkinton Center for the Arts show delivers excitement and skill

Sunday

Feb 11, 2018 at 3:00 AM

By Chris Bergeron, Daily News Correspondent

HOPKINTON - Like circuses that thrilled us as kids, "The Big Tent" members’ show at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts delivers more than the usual three rings full of excitement, skill and creative acrobatics.

From 86-year-old Roger Kastel to teenager Grace Liu, 37 artists have infused their paintings, photographs and sculptures in the Lotvin Family Gallery with originality and passion in a high-quality exhibit that’s full of surprises.

“This show offers a really astounding range of diverse artists from a teenager to an accomplished painter, a sculptor in their 80s and other artists exploring different media,” said HCA co-director Kris Waldman.

She selected one work from each of the 37 HCA members for the exhibit which runs through Feb. 15. Most works are for sale.

Waldman said she chose ”The Big Tent” as the new recurring title for the annual exhibit “to allude to the inclusiveness of this annual event that lets HCA members, from professionals to amateurs, showcase their abilities. “

The 82-year-old Hopkinton resident pursued his passion for sculpting in his spare time while working as a chemical engineer and teaching at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Visitors will be struck by the detailed rendering of the world famous physicist’s bushy mustache and flowing hair but might also wonder at the enigmatic inscription, “Just Kidding.”

Moser first sculpted Einstein’s visage in wax in his home studio and then cast it in bronze. He said sculpting, like studying chemical processes, is a "very logical” discipline that lets him focus on creating complex, original works.

He learned to sculpt from an elderly woodcarver while working in the Swiss Alps in the 1960s where for him, “creating became a joyous obsession.”

While outnumbered by painters, photographers like Jean Cummiskey of Southborough and Chelsea Bradway of Hopkinton, display striking images that are beautiful and powerful in different ways.

In Cummiskey’s dramatic digital photo, “Dear God,” a woman in a head shawl holds her face in her hands and weeps, leaving viewers to wonder if she is homeless, a refugee or a victim of terrorism.

In her lustrous photo titled “Neige," Bradway captures her long-haired 9-year-old daughter Miley from behind, wearing bluish angel wings and running through the snow, as the French title indicates.

“It was a snow day with no school,” she recalled. “I’ve always loved finding the magical in ordinary things.”

Bradway, who has a master’s degree in teaching special needs children, said she currently teaches photography to second- and third-graders, “relishing their remarkable and daring creativity and giving them a safe outlet behind their cameras.”

Working in oils, watercolors, acrylics and pastels, most of the varied painters in the show have formal training, sell their work and teach.

The subtle play of fading winter light in Janet Schwartz’s lovely pastel, “Snow Day,” reveals her earlier training as an art educator and continuing interest in depicting “rainy, blurry, realistic and impressionist subjects.”

The Westborough resident has shown her work in more than 50 shows, winning 18 awards over the last four years.

Schwartz teaches at the HCA and other local venues and holds workshops on “Releasing Your Inner Artist.”

“I am particularly drawn to the chaos and unexpected beauty of urban landscapes and traffic,” she said.

Over the last 35 years, Janet Montecalvo has used her artistic training to paint murals for Children’s Hospital, started her own sign and graphic design business, illustrated children’s books and created art for the television movie, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

The Framingham resident said her oil-on-panel paintings like “Sugar Bowl,” which is on display, have been called “contemporary archaeology” because they “explore the spaces and physical objects associated with present life …(and) evoke stories of what ordinary people do.”

Yvonne Belcher’s luminous acrylic of her two children, draped in colorful beach towels, wading into the ocean at Gloucester, conveys the rich hues and textures that she says “a camera cannot see but viewers see with their heart.”

The Marlborough resident, who studied at New England School of Art and Design, has used her training and fascination with color and texture to work as a fashion designer, start her own greeting card and stationary business, paint commissioned portraits of humans and pets and raise her two teenage daughters.

Catherine Howe is showing her pastel, “Handstand” that depicts a child playing in the water in rich colors.

The Hopkinton resident, who has taught art at the center for several years, credited the HCA for providing classes and support for youth and adults that teach not just the fundamentals of several media but continue to provide lessons that let them progress and grow as artists.

“I don’t think there’s any other place around here that has exhibits like this or this caliber of artists,” said Howe.

Chris Bergeron is a former longtime arts staffer for the Daily News who now works as a freelance writer.